


but in this twilight, our choices seal our fate

by CharlotteDaBookworm



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Demon Deals, Demons, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Internal Conflict, Reincarnation, especially when you're already dying, this au is just pain and i love it, this is why you don't make demon deals kids, you'll just leave so many openings in your words and the demon will make you pay for it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-03
Updated: 2019-11-03
Packaged: 2020-12-13 19:01:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21002618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CharlotteDaBookworm/pseuds/CharlotteDaBookworm
Summary: Remember our deal.How could he ever forget?





	but in this twilight, our choices seal our fate

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own FFXV. Title comes from Mumford and Sons 'Broken Crown'

* * *

“If you’ll please excuse me.”

He sneaks the words in during a natural pause in the discussion, smiling politely at the room as the councillors turn to look at him with sharp eyes. Ignoring Ignis’ sudden frown – at his perceived disrespect, at the fact that he wants to leave even though the man knows his entire schedule – and bowing his head in thanks when the King simply waves his hand in permission, no questions asked, he slips silently out of the doors with a nod of greeting to the guards on duty outside.

His steps are silent against stone as he walks at an easy pace down the corridor, unhurried and uncaring to all appearances, the smile still curving his lips and a gentle greeting on his tongue for everyone he passes.

The people love him for the simple acknowledgement.

He turns a corner into a seemingly empty corridor, stepping first into the shadows and then _up_.

The first breath he takes as the trapdoor falls quietly into place beneath him is slightly dusty.

His smile falls instantly.

_“I hate you.”_

Gold twinkles merrily in the darkness, somehow shining bright despite the shadows. “So harsh you are to the one who gave you what you asked for, _Your Highness.”_

He hisses; red flickering at his fingertips, curling in his eyes, caught behind his teeth. “I didn’t ask for _this_, you bastard!”

“How _rude_,” the shadow gasps, faux-offended, layer upon layer of shadows moving in a mockery of a being placing their hand to their chest. “To imply that my parents weren’t married upon my birth. I’m shocked, truly, I am.”

“Like you even _have_ parents,” he snarls in response, lunging a step forwards with trails of red dancing up his arms.

Black entwined with gold, swirling together. The shadow’s mirth disappears in an instant.

Darkness converges on him.

He can’t move, can’t breathe, can’t think- the darkness is all around him, pressing on his chest, pinning his limbs to his sides, snuffing out his fire, burrowing into his very _soul_ as they reach out and **grasp** – and he can’t look away, can’t drag his eyes from the darkness in the only light; the blackness that is wrapped in that (so cold, the ice of them seeping into his heart and his lungs and _he’ll never be warm again)_ gold, so utterly dark that his eyes almost want to skip over it except they keep getting drawn in and in _and in-_

_-_the shadows retreat.

Noctis Lucis Caelum, Crown Prince of Lucis, gasps for breath, lurching forwards - hands scrambling for balance on shaking knees.

When he looks at the shadows again, all he sees is gold.

“Remember with who it is that you speak, little prince.” The shadows tell him cheerfully, the sharp tip of a single shifting tendril pressed almost gently against his side.

He tips his head to the being; a concession but not a surrender, not a bow, despite the subtle reminder and the more blatant threat.

“I did not ask for this,” he repeats but softer, bereft of the same consuming anger that had raged through his veins moments ago. Noctis lifts his chin, meeting cold gold once more and swallowing at what he sees there.

The being _smiles._

“You begged for a chance to save your family. I have given you that chance. Save them then, _Highness_, if you still dare. My part is done.” Noctis shudders as the shadows cackle with laughter – shifting and brushing against his skin, curling around him, as cold and solid as irons. “Just remember our deal, **_Kleos Aldercapt_**.”

In an instant, the shadows scatter.

The room is left startlingly bright in the flickering of candlelight; the fire casting a single smiling shadow on the wall before him before abruptly puttering out, plunging the room into the darkness of twilight.

Noctis-_Kleos_ falls to his knees. The next breath he takes shakes.

He glances out of the window, at the sun setting in the distance, and then shaking hands prod at the laughing skulls embossed onto his clothes. When he looks down, all he can see is vibrant red seeping into white, all he can feel is cold steel and blood bubbling up his throat and icy stone under his knees, and when he looks up again he sees uncaring eyes dressed in black_black**black-**_

** **

He breathes and he is surrounded by wood and stone and candlelight once more. The chains around his lungs constrict as the last words of the being echo in his ears.

_Remember our deal_.

How could he ever forget?

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally just something I posted on tumblr for the fun of it but now i can't stop thinking about it so i'm throwing it up here cos why not.  
I might continue it and, if I do, i'll throw in the bits of Kleos' backstory I've already figured out (look, when I said I couldn't stop thinking about it i meant it) and probably dig into the delicious internal conflict of caring about Regis and the Lucians despite not wanting to, despite dying at the Lucian's hands, despite the fact that Kleos watched a Lucian assassin murder his mother when he was 4  
And then there's all the condensed angst of how much Iedolas - the father who, while a little distant, Kleos never doubted loved him or their country - and how much he's changed and when they first meet he looks at Noctis - Crown Prince of that nation that _slaughtered_ his son - in disgust and how much that hurts him...


End file.
